Contactless public transport ticketing in Augsburg

German city employs the use of contactless smart card technology for electronic ticketing on buses and trams

The KAROCARD is already successfully being used as an annual card in the public transport systems of the city of Augsburg. Further potential areas of use for the card are also now being considered - as an entry ticket for car parks, but also as an electronic payment method at petrol stations. The possibility of combining various applications on a single card is based on the latest LEGIC advant technology from the Swiss LEGIC Identsystems. Working jointly with LEGIC, the consultancy Cosmo.ID and the general contractor Multicard have designed a contactless chip card system for the Stadtwerke Augsburg which will set the standards. For the first time in Germany, on the basis of the multifunctional customer card of their own public services utility, the Stadtwerke have at the same time created the e-ticket for public transport. Approx. 85'000 citizens of Augsburg are already using the cards today.

The LEGIC advant contactless basis technology comes from LEGIC Identsystems Ltd. Cosmo.ID was responsible for the system architecture and the project management, Multicard for the manufacture of cards for the various applications, the letter shop and the on site integration of the KAROCARD management system. As a first step the "market partner" and "e-ticket" applications have been activated. Currently up to eight e-tickets can already be used on the KAROCARD, as this is required for example by the core application of the German VDV (Association of German Transportation Companies). In addition a further 15 functions are available which can be released as needed - for example for access control, time & attendance, cashless payment or club memberships. The LEGIC cards can also be flexibly expanded in the future. In principle the LEGIC technology permits the combination of up to 127 applications of different types, sizes or from different suppliers on a single card. All the data required is stored on the contactless LEGIC chip in the card. Lost or stolen cards can be blocked by the owner in a very short time, so misuse of tickets is ruled out. The Stadtwerke are also anticipating higher revenues through the combination of the customer card with the public transport e-ticket as well as the improved passenger control. Lost cards can be deactivated immediately. The further utilisation, thus, is not possible any longer. The possibility to create a substituted card in a very short time is another additional service for customers. "We wanted to create more efficient options for passenger control and increased convenience for our customers. The cooperation with LEGIC, Cosmo.ID and Multicard enabled us to work consistently towards a flexible and service-focused solution which will meet the requirements of our customers to a great extent," says JÃ¼rgen Weidenbacher, project manager of Stadtwerke Augsburg Energie GmbH. "The introduction of the new system landscape combined with the new CRM software has been accompanied by a marked optimisation of processes."

Dr Otto Eggimann, Vice President Sales and Business Development of LEGIC, is convinced of the innovative power of the solution: "Further uses of the KAROCARD are already under discussion in Augsburg, in the areas of car park use, as a stadium ticket or for instance at petrol stations. By choosing the LEGIC technology the Stadtwerke have already taken a decisive step towards the future and innovative services."